Percy Jackson: Flames of War
by Tears of a Spirit
Summary: As the two camps come together under dire circumstances, older powers begin to rise. With the absence of the gods and the ancient magics that protected the demigods, there is nowhere left to hide. The very earth is about to become one massive battleground and the very survival of the demigod race is at stake. DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Take heed dear readers, heroes seldom get their happy ending. Heroes may have a fleeting happiness, but nothing ever lasts. It's easier to believe that our fairy tale ending will come, and the knights in shining armor will come to save the day. _

_But this is no fairy tale. There aren't any 'knights in shining armor', or 'happily ever after's. These things are mere figments of our imaginations. But the darkness of the heart is very, very real._

**-****Ω****-**

**Percy**

I wandered around the makeshift camp. For days we camped out in the Yosemite National Park, moving every so often and trying to reign in our panic. We still didn't know everyone that was missing. So many of the Romans were dead or hurt really bad. The Greeks didn't do too much better either. So many dead… not even in the Titan War, had we had losses this big.

It didn't help that we lost all contact with the gods either. Prayers went unanswered. Iris messages didn't work. Our drachmas just fell through the rainbow just like any old coin would have.

A hand came down on my shoulder. Caught by surprise I drove an elbow into the dark haired attacker's stomach. All the air whooshed out of his lungs and he fell back. Then I got a good look at his face. It was Nico.

"Sorry about that." I said, extending a hand to help him up.

He took my hand and hauled himself up. Nico just shook his head and coughed. He had dark bags under his eyes suggesting a lack of sleep.

"No problem. I guess we're all a bit jumpy nowadays."

I looked off into the forest outside of our camp.

"You're telling me." I mumbled, fiddling with my collapsed shield. Nico and I continued to walk in a companionable silence. Then Nico stopped and sighed.

"I'm kinda tired. I'm going to go see if I can catch a couple hours more sleep before dinner."

I nodded. "You go do that. You look like you could use it anyways."

Nico just nodded and walked off into his tent, his back hunching over an unseen weight.

I shook my head. The first war was bad enough. How bad would this one be, especially with these extremely powerful deities? I REALLY didn't want to know. I continued walking until I found my creek. No matter where we were in the forest, I always came here to think. I sat down and dangled my feet in the water, enjoying the welcome trickle of energy the water gave me. I sat like that for the longest time, watching the fish dart in and out between my feet. Just then I heard the crunch of broken twigs behind me. A quick glance told me it was friendly. An even longer look told me it was Reyna.

She walked up next to me and sat down. "I thought I'd find you here."

I just nodded. "I'm always here. Thinking.

Reyna smirked a little. "Thinking? I didn't think that you were capable of that."

I glared at her halfheartedly. "Shut up…"

"You know, Diana's hunters are here. I think you know her Lieutenant." Reyna said casually.

I froze. Then a shout ruined my relatively peaceful afternoon.

"PERSEUS JACKSON! YOU'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!"

I bolted to my feet and I ran as fast as I could, leaving behind a very amused Reyna. As I rounded a bend in the trees, I saw a flash of silver. I began to panic. Then a blunt tipped arrow caught me in the back with just enough force to knock me off my feet. I rolled over to find a very irate Thalia Grace standing above me.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" I shouted in desperation.

Thalia just narrowed her eyes. "I'm pretty sure you have something to do with it. Any time something big goes down, you're usually the one causing it!"

"I'm still pretty sure I didn't do it!" I raised my hands in surrender.

"Shut up and listen, Seaweed Brain! We lost contact with Artemis. That's huge. We NEVER lose contact with her." Thalia explained.

I scrambled to my feet. "I didn't do that. But WE can't contact any of the other gods either. All Iris messages, prayers, that sort of stuff just hasn't been working. It's like they fell off the map or something."

Thalia scratched her chin. "Do you have any idea what might have caused that?"

I shook my head. Then a likely- no probable- idea popped into my head. "We were attacked a couple days ago at Camp Jupiter by the Protogenoi."

Her eyes widened. "Which ones?"

I thought for a second. "The Ourea. Last we saw, Erebus was trying to take control of the underworld. Aether and Hemera seemed to have awoken. Nyx… I'm pretty sure she's up. Nico was having trouble controlling shadows. That has to be her or Erebus."

Thalia shook her head. "This is bad. Really bad."

I nodded. "Let's go back to the camp. We have a lot to discuss."

We walked a ways in silence. Then Thalia asked the last thing that I would have ever expected.

"So. Something happened between you and Annabeth, huh?"

I felt my mood plummet. "Can we discuss this later? We have a war to fight."

Thalia refused to give up. I guess she is my cousin in that way. "But-"

"Later." I growled.

She just grunted after that, but she obviously wasn't happy about it.

A little while later we entered the campgrounds. As soon as we passed the guards, Bobby walked over to me.

"Jackson, Jason wants you over there with that group of people. You too, Thalia."

I nodded and went over to the group. Jason looked up at me and smiled grimly. "Ok. We're all here."

Reyna somehow got back to camp before Thalia and I did and was standing next to Jason. The Wei Twins, Ryan and Carol, were standing on the other side of Reyna. Clarisse and Malcolm stood on the opposite side of the group with two other Greeks, all of them eyeing the Romans distrustfully.

Clarisse looked at the rest of group and sneered. "Five soft skinned Romans and five Greeks. Kind of inefficient if you ask me since us Greeks are going to be pulling the heavy weights."

I glared at my long time enemy. "Knock it off Clarisse. The Romans are every bit as good as the Greeks."

Clarisse just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Jason sighed in exasperation. "Both of you need to knock it off. Anyways, we don't have an exact number of people missing. I need you two-" He pointed at the two Greeks that I didn't know. "To go and gather names from the Greek Camps. Same with you two." He pointed to the Wei Twins standing next to Reyna.

The four demigods left to do their assigned task.

I looked at Jason. "What's the plan?"

Jason shook his head. "We lost a lot of good people. Dakota I know about. But at the same time, we can't just sit here, licking our wounds. We need to do something, even if we are low on manpower. Something. Anything really. Get some intel on enemy forces. See if the Greeks are alright."

"Seems like a good plan." I nodded in approval.

Reyna spoke up. "We should have different groups do different things, then set a rendezvous point at a certain time and place."

Clarisse nodded grudgingly. "That sounds pretty good."

I scratched my chin. "But… How are we supposed to contact each other if we need help? Cell phones are out of the question."

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah. Those are too dangerous. I'll see if our remaining smiths can cook up anything," He got up and brushed his hands off against his pants and left to talk to the Hephaestus campers.

Thalia called after him. "Tell them to make some kind of Celestial Bronze radio or something! The bronze should block out most of the demigod aura from filtering through."

Malcolm gave a thumb up to show he heard.

Then the Greeks and Romans returned from their little info gathering trip.

Ryan listed off his information. "So…uh… We lost more than half of our people in that attack. Close to sixty percent. Of that, twenty-five are wounded. Notable injuries… let's see… Gwen has a broken ankle and Octavian is missing. Frank Zhang suffered a minor concussion from falling debris. Apollo kids say that they all should make a full recovery by tomorrow. We have one hundred demigods in total."

Thalia took the list from the Greek and cursed. "Greeks lost three fourths of the demigods they sent. That leaves them at about thirty demigods left. Travis Stoll has a broken arm and his brother has a black eye. Annabeth has a broken nose. All of them should be ready to go by tomorrow too. There should be about a hundred more demigods in Camp Half Blood if…" Her voice trailed off and we all knew what she was thinking.

If they are still alive.

"Ok. Now onto other issues." Jason said, trying to steer our thoughts away from depressing thoughts. "What are we going to do about the Protogenoi? The gods aren't answering us. We're on our own."

I spoke up. "I'll take a small group to go see if the Greeks are OK and to see if I can get them to come help us. Jason can take the rest of the demigods. Thalia can take some of her best hunters and some of our best scouts and keep an eye on the enemy."

Jason nodded. "Sounds like a plan. We'll tell the others tonight. Go and get some rest. We're all tired and it's been a long couple of days."

I slowly walked away, but I didn't go to my tent. I walked over my favorite spot by creek and sat down, once again trailing my feet in the water. Another war. It was too much to handle.

After a while, I felt Reyna sit beside me.

"A lot on your mind, Jackson?"

"You're telling me. The second war in as many years has got to be weighing on YOUR mind."

"It is. I just don't show it." Reyna replied.

I just ducked my head. "That and the whole entire leadership thing is driving me nuts. If I mess up, I'm putting the entire Fifth Age on the line."

Reyna kicked her feet in the water. "You were great in the first war, if the Greek's rumor mill is to be believed. You'll be even greater in this war."

I shrugged. "I had help from the gods. But in this war, we are completely on our own."

Reyna smiled. "Be that as it may, you always rise to the occasion. You surpassed all expectations by bringing back the legion's standard from Alaska. That honestly surprised me."

She suddenly stood up. "You interest me, Jackson. Right when I think I have you figured out, you go and do something completely unexpected. You better get some rest. We have a long couple of days ahead of us."

* * *

Please review! And pray I get enough that I'm sufficiently motivated to continue...

-Starstryker97

POSTED: 10/09/13

EDITED: 10/24/2013 8:07 PM


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Percy**

I zipped up my bag with my stuff in it and threw it over my shoulder. Everyone around me were other campers making the last minute adjustments to their things. We had split into three groups. One group was going to go and spy on the enemy. I was in charge of a group that would go to Camp Half Blood to see if we could get some reinforcements. Jason was leading the main body of demigods, which was anyone not going with the others or ones that weren't ready to fight. I felt Nico walk up next to me and heft his backpack. His Stygian Iron sword hung in a baldric slung across the other side of his back.

"So. We're finally going back." he said.

I nodded. "Yeah. I can't believe it either."

Nico grimaced. "I just hope they're still alive when we get there."

I swatted him on the arm. "Quit with the melodrama, will you?"

Nico raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hey! It's my job to be melodramatic! I'm a son of Hades."

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm going to go check on my sister, alright? Be right back."

I nodded and looked at my group. The Stolls were trying to pickpocket Clarisse while she was busy sharpening that electric spear of hers. Carol Wei sat behind everybody talking to Frank. Lou Ellen was tossing a fireball back and forth between her hands. A new Hephaestus camper, Leo Valdez if I remember correctly, was chatting with Caleb. Caleb was a Hephaestus demigod Nico and I found during our trek to Camp Jupiter. I looked around for a little while longer until I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around to see Ryan Wei, dressed in a grey hoodie and black jeans. His usual joking smile and bright eyes were unusually somber.

He looked down at the ground. "I have a favor to ask of you."

I nodded. "Sure. What do you need?"

He looked up and over my shoulder at his sister then back at me. "If anything happens to me, I need you protect my sister."

I raised my eyebrows. "I highly doubt that she needs protecting. She's always keeping you in line."

Ryan laughed and I saw a flash of who he was at Camp Jupiter, a carefree teenager just enjoying being alive, before his mood dropped behind the metaphoric storm clouds again.

"That's the thing. She gets too serious. I just try to keep her stress down and energy up. She-"he took a deep breath. "She's everything to me. Ever since Dad died, I've been trying to keep her out of the depression she fell into. The first few weeks were the worst. For the both of us. I can't stand seeing her like that. And now, with Mom missing… We've only got each other left."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll do everything I can to keep your sister safe." But even as I said those words, I had a flashback of another promise I made so long ago.

* * *

"_I won't tell on you," Nico said. "But you have to promise to keep my sister safe."_

"_I… that's a big thing to promise, Nico, on a trip like this. Besides, she's got Zoe, Grover, and Thalia-" I said._

"_Promise." Nico insisted._

"_I'll do my best. I promise that."_

* * *

A hand waved in front of my nose. Ryan was looking at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"You alright there? You just sort of blanked out on me there. Need a drink of water?"

I shook my head. "I'm alright. Just memories."

Ryan smiled. "Well, good luck. I'll see you next time. Hopefully…"

I watched him walk over to his sister and give her a hug. As I looked on, they really began to remind me of Nico and Bianca.

Nico walked up to me again and put a hand on my shoulder. "Ready? It's almost time to move."

I looked around. Jason's group started to move off into the east. Ryan had left his sister's side and began to follow Thalia's group of spies. Just as they passed, Thalia stopped and gave Nico and I a hug.

"Stay safe, you two. I don't want to have to go to the underworld to resurrect you just to kill you for not following what I was saying."

I grinned. "You too, Thals."

Nico grumbled. "Only I'M allowed to bring back the dead…"

Thalia laughed. "Get going you two. "

I nodded and swung my bag across my shoulders again and started to walk east. As I walked, I looked over my shoulders at the other groups as they disappeared from my sight.

A couple hours later, we crested a small hill and Leo began to complain.

"Hey, uh... Percy? Is that your name? Can we take a breather? My legs are on fire."

I glanced back at him. "Not literally, I hope."

Leo glanced down. "Nah. Not literally. But I still really, really need a break."

There were murmurs of agreement all throughout the group. I glanced at Travis Stoll, the only one who had a watch.

"Hey Travis. Any idea how long we've been at this? Since our last break, I mean."

Travis shrugged. "Four hours give or take a few."

I looked towards the horizon. The sun was already beginning to dip behind the mountain ranges. "Fine. We should be able to camp here for the day. I'd say we travelled enough for a day."

We pitched a couple tents and settled in for the night. We set up a watch schedule and decided that I would take the first. I sat by fire with Riptide uncapped and laid across my knees. As I stared into the flickering orange tongues, I thought about everyone that we lost. Nico came to relieve me of my duty, with his Stygian Iron sword hanging by his side and glowing with black energy. I ducked inside the tent and crashed on my sleeping bag. As soon as my head touched my pillow, I dreamt.

And I thought that dreams back at Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood were bad. But out here, without magic protections, they were twice as vivid.

* * *

I saw Nyx standing in the throne room of a pitch black palace. Aether and Hemera stood to the side, clothed in gold battle armor. Chronus stood a little ways behind the Primordials of the Day, watching the sand slowly sift to the bottom of the glass. Pontus stood in sea green armor, polishing his trident. The Ourea and Nesoi were well represented. A few of each kind stationed near the walls.

Nyx clapped her hands. "Ananke and Chaos have yet to awaken. And we are all in agreement that we need leaders. I nominate the Night as leader. If you are led by Erebus and I, we will crush our foes underfoot."

Aether roared in disagreement. "No! The Day drives back the Night! We should lead!"

Chronus pocketed the hourglass with a scowl. "Yet, all falls away at the hands of time. I will lead."

Sounds of clashing permeated the atmosphere as the very air was rent apart by the fury of the strikes.

I was whisked away to different places, each of them passing in a couple seconds. But they were no less horrifying. Zeus, shackled in an underground prison by chains made of the very earth itself. Hades, chained to a wall in his own prison. Poseidon, who was trying to resist the draining of his powers in a sandy and dry prison. Bellona, the Wei Twin's mother, was shackled in a rocky prison where snow occasionally blew in and piled higher against the goddess. The scenes passed faster and faster until I could only make out flashes of prisons, chains, bloody stones glowing with ichor, and- was that the sky?

* * *

All of a sudden the ground heaved and buckled. As I jolted up, I saw that Nico and the rest of the group was on their hands and knees, trying to maintain their balance. The bronze radio was bouncing all over the place before Connor Stoll grabbed it and tucked it under his body. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the shaking stopped and the radio buzzed with static.

"Thalia Gra… Scouting Squa… Intense shaking… nob… hurt… everyb… ok?"

Connor stood up and picked up the battered bronze box. He shook it and I heard a couple things clattering around inside. I'm not an expert on radios, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to do that. Connor shrugged and tossed it to Leo.

Leo cracked open the box.

"A couple gears were dislodged and looks like couple wires fell off. Give me a couple seconds."

We sat and waited as Leo pulled things from his tool belt and tapped gears with a little hammer here and there. Caleb was watching over Leo's shoulder. A couple minutes later, Leo snapped the casing closed and the radio crackled to life.

"Percy, can you hear us? It's Jason. Come ON! YOU BETTER NOT BE DEA-"

I grabbed the radio. "Calm down, Jason. We felt the earthquake."

I heard a snort. "Understatement of the year, bro. The entire world felt it. But I think the mortals are in big trouble. I think Terra was trying to wipe them out."

I cursed. "Makes sense. Less obstacles to worry about. More room to maneuver if they're caught in a city."

Jason shouted something to someone on the other side and came back. "Can't talk more. Hellhounds are coming."

Static crackled all over the connection as they disconnected.

I stood up and put Riptide in my back pocket. Nico stood up and sheathed his Stygian sword in his baldric.

I looked at everyone. "We should get going. It's not safe."

As we walked, my mind wandered.

_Were my parents ok?_

* * *

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. My friend got me started on an anime called Attack on Titan. Or maybe you know it as Shingeki No Kyojin. It's a really good show, and I highly suggest you watch it. So, anyways, I apologize for the wait.

Reviews make me type faster. So press that little button down there! Please?

-Starstryker97


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